A few years ago, we learned in Spain that Amazon is focused on turning crazy ideas into reality: send packages using drones. Something that at first glance even seems logical, but it has faced hundreds of walls on many occasions that prevent this reality from being carried out. new report Bloomberg threw a bucket of cold water on this project again detailing each current issue.

And they are not few. Safety issues, accidents in the test period and even with employee turnover problems and even fires. The list raises the question of whether Jeff Bezos’ plans to deliver a 30-minute drone package will materialize. And this idea was raised in 2013, and nearly a decade later, the project has not ceased to experience difficulties, despite many promises and proposals.

The report recounts how there were up to 5 accidents at the company’s test site and that the company then allegedly tried to cover up by cleaning their remains. And this has been added to other previously reported people who reported many other issues regarding the project.

drone delivery

Bloomberg determined that the company performs all types of testing at its headquarters in Pendleton, Oregon (United States). In total there will be up to 5 accidents in just 4 months. In May, without going any further, one drone lost its propeller, and the media confirmed that before the US Federal Aviation Administration could investigate on the ground, Amazon cleared the entire area. Something that Amazon itself has disputed.

We went to June last year. Drone machine it’s out when starting to fly in a straight line after in an ascending flight. The cause was that the two security functions responsible for stabilizing the drone and landing it in this case failed and as a result, this He fell from a height of almost 50 meters.

Based on Bloomberg, This caused a forest fire that had to be extinguished by local firefighters. This has been corroborated by an incident report from the Federal Aviation Administration, which explains that the drone made an “uncontrolled vertical fall” and was “engulfed in flames”.

Amazon spokesman, Av Zammit, denied this information. In the case of the first crash, Amazon simply followed the orders of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). In addition, Zammit himself has explained that the NTSB has not classified any of these tests as accidents because There were no injuries and no vital infrastructure was threatened.

There’s already history

In August last year, wired release preliminary report pretty broad and loud where he recounts the issues that occurred with testing Amazon Prime Air in the UK. He came to say goodbye to a hundred people, explained that the internal organization was “dysfunctional” and chaotic. It was even mentioned that there were workers who they drink at work and that they approved all images received from the test, regardless of whether they caused problems or not.

And some Amazon employees have explained to Bloomberg which will be prioritized by the company service launch before security. In fact, Cheddi Skeete, a former Amazon drone project manager, was reportedly fired for talking to his boss about project safety concerns.

This is not the only statement. David Johnson, a former Amazon drone flight attendant, has explained that the company conducted the tests “without full flight equipment” and without “the proper equipment”. Johnson has even detailed how one person is responsible for multiple tasks in a project, with the risk consequences it entails. “They’re giving people a lot of things to do in a very short time to try to increase their numbers, and people are taking shortcuts,” he said.

Zammit has denied all this, explaining that Amazon takes “security reporting seriously”, alluding to the fact that they have a reporting system “that is known to all of our team members.” It added that “crew members are assigned only one role per flight” and that prior to each test, “crew members are briefed on their single role.”

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